A couple of weeks ago we have released a simple and yet stylish WordPress theme for FREE. It’s called Instablog and it appeals to those who love to hang out on social media sites like Instagram and share photo stories.

This theme does nothing else better but creates a web space that can complement your Insta profile, where you can add more content to your favorite picture snaps. A WordPress site equipped with this easy to use theme will give you the ultimate freedom to post whatever you want and present your content with sleek typography. The layout is totally responsive, looks great on mobile and tablet.

The slideout sidebar menu is a unique feature that allows for more space for widgets, navigation that won’t obstruct the overall layout only if the viewer decides to open the tab.

Try it out, it’s 100% free. You can download and install it from our official WordPress.org page.

Give us your feedback and thought about the design and features in the comments section. We would love to hear how you like it.

InstaBlog had a great start on WordPress in its first couple of weeks. Now over 300+ sites use it and we are seeing 70-100 download per day which is impressive for any new WP product.

MAny of you already asked about the Pro version of the theme… it is coming soon, we are still working on some final touches and it is going to include more options, WooCommerce integration, and the usual Shaped Pixels premium support!

We notify all of our customers of a security update of the third party plugin “Display Widgets” used by some of our themes as a recommended plugin to immediately update this plugin due to a possible malware detection in the files of “Display Widgets” plugin ( see full investigation here ).

Safe (clean) versions of this plugin:

pre-version 2.0.5

or the latest version 2.7

Any other version you have installed please update it urgently.

Note: if you have already updated (or attempted to update) this plugin to the latest version (2.7) but the update notification keeps appearing in your WordPress plugins admin page – that means you have already secured your site and you have the clean (safe) version of the plugin installed.

As a webmaster getting to know your site, you are naturally going to start digging into the deeper details. Setting up the theme, getting the layout right and tweaking the design to your liking can be incredibly fun, and it keeps you entertained for quite some time. But the more you learn the more you discover. More specifically, you come across tools to help your site rank higher, respond better to different devices, and overall enhance user experience. Ideas start playing in your head about what you can possibly achieve, which leads to searching for bigger and better things to make your ideas happen. If you were thinking about using a WordPress Jetpack alternative, think again.

The Jetpack plugin is one, if not the most, empowering plugin for your WordPress site.

Consider the following article as a WordPress Jetpack premium review, because that’s the main focus point. It’s the plugin that covers an incredible array of bases, and it’s something every web owner should have in his or her arsenal. At the moment the Jetpack plugin is operating on more than 1 million sites, and the number keeps growing. It could be because the same people who created WordPress stand behind Jetpack, namely Automattic. Or it could be because Jetpack is simply so powerful.

The latest word being associated with high quality sites is “minimalism”. While there used to be a time where designers wanted to cram as much as possible into a single page, and explore a lot of interesting ways to ultimately navigate the site, it’s not the case anymore. The tide is turning towards more simple clean WordPress themes that look absolutely brilliant, provide incredible flexibility and only enhances user experience.

Look to simple clean WordPress themes for your portfolio

The fact is online visitors have had enough with unnecessary distractions. Now they want fresh designs that help them to escape in a sense, not lock them in. For photographers, designers, or any other specialist within the visually creative field, a portfolio should make a first impression. But that’s not going to happen if the site design is taking all the attention away from your posts?

You are looking for a minimal blogging WordPress theme that will help your work stand out. But more importantly, you want a theme that will exhibit photos and pictures with a supporting touch.

We have noticed a large traffic spike the other day on our Google Analytics screen and after a little searching we found out that the official WordPress.org repository has been showing on of our free WordPress themes Longevity on their front page.

Even though the theme was placed on the very bottom at position #15 of the main page we have received more than a 1000 downloads in a single day which for us is an amazing boost.

Photo sharing is quite a big thing on the web. Whether it’s done as a hobby or professionally, about 41 million people were invested in taking and sharing photos during 2016. If you are one those people then you’ll know how important it is to get an image gallery WordPress theme that grabs attention, given all the competition.

So what should you look for in a photography WordPress theme?

Suggestions for a clean WordPress theme for photographers

Frankly, there are many paths you can follow. But the most popular has to be minimalist photo blogging themes. There’s a reason why you took the photo and you don’t want to draw unnecessary attention away from the pictures. In other words, you can’t go wrong with an easy to use theme for photographers that aim to support your hobby or profession. You have the ability to tweak and change everything, and you don’t have to worry about going too far.

Just over two years ago, I created a site called Shaped Pixels where I designed and released various styles of WordPress themes—both free and premium versions alike. I can easily say that it’s been interesting and rewarding to continue being part of the WordPress community as the overall market is continuously progressing to better things. I know this because 26% of the internet uses WordPress!

You might have noticed that the Shaped Pixels website looks a little different…OK, a lot different! Not only did I change the site visually, I also did something I never thought I would do which was to change from using the Joomla content management system (CMS) to WordPress! I am guessing most didn’t know I was running my site on Joomla, but that is a story for another time.

Something new is coming to WordPress 4.7 that is due to be released in just over a month from the writing of this article. It’s something that is making many people shrug with puzzlement and a question of…why are they doing this? Trust me, it even makes me wonder what is wrong with the priorities of the core WordPress development team. Sure there’s going to be several new things in 4.7, but why this…